Chapter 1148: Suspension
The TV was opened and the Viacom Group’s sudden press conference at its headquarters in New York was over.
Elizabeth has continuously changed several channels before I found on the CNN that Viacom co-president Tom Freston crowded out the crazy questioning reporter and fled the scene of the conference.
Even so, through the subsequent introduction of the CNN anchor, Eric quickly figured out the ins and outs of the matter.
Just now, Tom Freston announced that in order to further optimize the company's asset structure and avoid business risks, Viacom plans to divest the Group's business from the Group's business, which cannot keep up with the company's overall development. Establish a separate operating holding company. After the split, the shares of the Blockbuster store will be listed separately and will no longer intersect with the Viacom Group.
Elizabeth sat on the side of the bed and listened with great interest to CNN's two anchors on this topic. He said to Eric next to him: "What do you do next?"
In theory, Viacom has stripped up the Baishida, and the firefighting system’s ban on Baishida does not seem to affect the entire Viacom Group.
But in fact, this obviously can only be the wishful thinking of some people.
Eric took over Elizabeth's waist and said: "It's a smart decision to break the tail. It's just that Viacom seems to be mistaken. They are not preyed lizards. Fireflies are not the ones behind them. The snake. So, this matter has nothing to do with the survival instinct of nature."
Elizabeth followed Eric's strength and leaned on him, fiddling with the remote control in his hand, saying: "But it works. Viacom is a publicly held company, except for the Lei Shidong family. There are no other major shareholders with a shareholding ratio of more than 5%. Most of these investors will only make their own judgment based on the news of the open market. Perhaps Viacom’s share price will rebound next week."
“It’s not that simple,” Eric said. “By Vision is not well managed, but as a large retail chain, its biggest advantage is its ability to provide a large cash flow for the parent company Viacom Group. The main purpose of Shidong’s acquisition of Baishida, but also means that to successfully complete the split, Viacom must first clarify the complex financial relationship between the Baishida chain stores and other businesses, but this is It’s enough for Viacom to be busy for a month or two.”
When Lei Shidong initiated the acquisition of Paramount, due to lack of sufficient funds, he took a roundabout tactic, first annexed the Baishida chain stores, and then raised the large amount through the cash flow support and asset collateral of the Baishida chain stores. The funds were finally completed and the acquisition of Paramount was completed.
Now, in order to split the Baishida, Viacom must return the cash that has been drawn from Blockbuster over the years and clear the accounts. This is better handled. After all, even after the split, whether it is Viacom or Blockbuster, the shareholder shareholders are basically the same, not to mention the control of Viacom has always been in the hands of Lei Shidong.
However, once the split is completed, Viacom will no longer be able to enjoy the convenience of the Baishida chain store cash flow.
But another problem is more difficult.
That is the debt problem of the Baishida chain store.
In order to acquire Paramount, Lei Shidong initially mortgaged the Baishida chain store. Viacom has been expanding rapidly over the years, and there is not enough funds to pay off the debts left over from the original.
According to the financial data of Viacom Group that Eric has seen in the past, the current debt of the Baishida chain stores still stands at 2.6 billion US dollars, compared with the market value of more than 8 billion US dollars in the Baishida chain stores a few years ago. Of course, money is not exaggerated. Even now, if diluted across the Viacom Group, $2.6 billion in debt is still not worth mentioning.
But if it is to be split, Baishida has now fallen to a valuation of less than $3 billion, and the $2.6 billion in debt has almost made the company's debt ratio 100%.
Then the problem arises.
How to solve this $2.6 billion in debt.
All left to Blockbuster, Viacom Group will definitely agree, but the debtor will definitely blow up the sky, with the current operating conditions of Baishida, who knows that this chain has the ability to repay the loan, in case further Poor management, bankruptcy, who should pay for this money?
But if it is all undertaken by Viacom Group, whether it is Lei Shidong or other shareholders, it is certainly not happy.
The final result can only be apportioned, but how to share it is bound to cause a stalemate.
Eric and Elizabeth are discussing this, and the phone on the bedside table rang.
Seeing that it was called by Casseenberg, Eric answered it.
Simply talking a few words, Eric hung up.
Supporting Eric’s chest and eavesdropping on Elizabeth, when he hangs up, he immediately said: “Karl Icahn?”
Eric nodded and said: "The other party wants to invite me to dinner at noon, go together?"
Elizabeth nodded and said: "He wants to start with Viacom?"
"Obvious."
In the hands of the famous companies on Wall Street, Carl Icahn is undoubtedly much more famous than Ron Perelman.
Ron Perelman’s hostile takeovers are often only companies with a market value of less than $1 billion, such as Revlon and Marvel, but Carl Icahn’s hunting targets are often world-class corporate giants such as global airlines and Motorola. The gap between the two is clear.
After the new century, the trend of corporate mergers has gradually cooled down, and a number of corporate snipers on Wall Street have gradually quietened, including Ron Perelman. But Carl Icahn has been very active, and Eric vaguely remembers that Carl Icahn also launched the acquisition of Lionsgate.
......
Viacom released the news of splitting BesTV, and did not need Eric to tell, Yahoo! Portal quickly hangs a headline article to analyze the series of difficult problems that Viacom has to break up. It was pointed out that Viacom did this only to divert the investor’s attention, and the split plan could not be implemented in the short term.
The media that watched the excitement and the big troubles followed suit and joined the heated discussion. They generally held a disappointing attitude toward Viacom’s splitting measures.
It is even clearer to those who are familiar with the situation. The goal of the firefly system is the entire Viacom Group. It is impossible to stop because of the failure of Lei Shidong.
In addition, creditors of the Blockbuster chain also issued a statement soon, saying that they will pay close attention to the split solution of the Viacom Group. Some vigilant creditors even bluntly warned that the Viacom Group should fully consider the interests of creditors and not make unwise decisions.
new York.
Viacom Group Headquarters, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan.
The east coast is already in the afternoon.
Today, although it is Saturday, Viacom headquarters still has a large number of employees busy in the air.
Since last Monday, the entire Viacom Group has been in a state of restlessness in response to the sudden launch of the firefly system.
Although it is impossible to see the details of the whole thing, but in the media industry, most employees can guess why Viacom is facing the dilemma at this time.
Think about the tough stance of Eric Williams in the last gossip of the Internet gossip, and then the entire Internet media circle is chilling, the 'Hollywood Gossip' website is completely shut down, and the important partners of Sequoia Capital are forced to leave. A series of events, most of the Viacom employees expressed concern about the company's prospects.
Although it is known that the Viacom Group will not be as smashed as the ‘Hollywood Gossip’ website, but looking at the chaos inside the group, some people are even thinking about the job-hopping. After all, if Eric Williams is not willing to give up, even if the Viacom group can not be rectified, the company will definitely be hurt.
In fact, the Baishida chain store is now hurt.
Near the summer season, this video tape DVD sales season, the industry's number one home entertainment video chain suddenly lost more than half of Hollywood's major film company content support, last year's series of popular videos that should have been released in the near future videotape DVD, such as "The Day After Tomorrow", "Chou Jiaowa 3", "Midnight Ring", "Mission Impossible 3", "Teddy Bear", etc., will not appear on the shelves of the Baishida chain store.
It is conceivable that the operating conditions of Blockbuster in the coming months will definitely be very bleak.
Moreover, despite the abandonment of the largest retail chain of the Baishida chain, the firefly system does not actually lose much.
After all, the same type of videotape DVD retail company, such as movie galleries and Hollywood videos, or a large supermarket chain such as Wal-Mart, can provide a full terminal sales channel for the firefly system videos, and fans will basically not be subject to Blockbuster. Troubled with out of stock.
Even if you are accustomed to renting and selling videotape DVDs at Blockbuster, you only need to transfer to other stores to easily buy the videos you want. On the contrary, the loss of this part of the loyal customers will be a disaster for Blockbuster.
Inside Viacom, after public appearance on Monday, the tough character of Lei Shidong strictly prohibited any high-level company from trying to contact the firefly system, and it was against the situation.
However, watching the stock price that has been declining for a week and the continuous feedback from the media after the press conference in the morning, the feelings of Viacom's top management have gradually become more and more gloomy. Later, when I heard the news that Eric Williams and Wall Street corporate sniper Carl Icahn had met in Los Angeles, Viacom’s core executives could no longer sit still.
After some discussion, the co-president of the Viacom Group, Tom Freston, who personally presided over the conference, also sounded the door of the Lei Shidong office.
Although it was a weekend, Lei Shidong also had no rest.
After getting permission, Tom Freston pushed the door and saw that Lei Shidong was talking to the group's legal counsel, so he stood patiently and waited for a while before the legal counsel left and walked over.
"Tom, sit down," Lei Shidong pointed to the sofa opposite the desk and said: "I have heard the news."
Tom Freston doesn't know if Redstone is talking about the meeting between Eric Williams and Carl Icahn, sitting down on the sofa and saying: "Somer, Williams and Carl I. Kan contact, it is likely to launch a malicious acquisition of Viacom."
"I just discussed with Fisher," Lei Shidong said with a heavy expression: "If Williams and Carl Icahn really unite to do this, we can just file a complaint with the SEC to investigate the firefly group malicious. Violation of Viacom's share price violations."
"Williams won't let us get the evidence. He can't represent anything with Karl Icahn." Tom Freston shook his head and hesitated, still saying: "Somer, we Can't go on like this anymore, the company should settle with Williams as soon as possible."
Lei Shidong immediately sank his face: "What do you mean, let me the old man go to apologize to the little guy?"
"You are completely ignorant of the last thing, Summer," said Tom Freston: "As long as you agree, we can handle this matter."
"I won't use the bad excuse of ‘uninformed’ to smother others, which will make me look like a ridiculous ridiculous politician.”
"I understand, but we still have to face the situation," said Tom Freston: "Since Carl Icahn is in contact with Williams, he must have entered the game now, just let Carl Icahn get the dimension. If Yacom has more than 5% of the stock, he can initiate an extraordinary shareholders meeting. Summer, you have to understand that this is likely to change the company's shareholding structure, we do not have any strong resistance measures now. Even if the future SEC against Karl Icahn and Williams launched an investigation, and all of this may have nothing to do with us. According to Karl Icahn's character, he got Viacom, and he will definitely take the painstaking efforts of your life. ”
Lei Shidong finally silenced.
After a while, he said again: "Do you think that little guy will be willing to reconcile with us? Look at his means of the 'Hollywood Gossip' website, all the employees of the company were ordered by him. This is completely without leaving room."
Tom Freston obviously has this kind of worry, but he quickly said: "But if we do nothing, the situation will only continue to deteriorate."
Lei Shidong once again fell silent, his style is strong and aggressive, he does not mind the confrontation with the firefly system, even if both lose.
However, the contact between Eric and Carl Icahn really made Lei Shidong worry.
Lei Shidong has always been very afraid of losing control of Viacom Group. Therefore, although he is 76 years old this year, as long as someone intends to take away his power, even his children, Lei Shidong will not hesitate. Kick it off.
Because of this, in recent years, Lei Shidong has been very nervous with all his children.
After hesitating for a long time, Lei Shidong said: "So, you call Los Angeles and let Shirley contact you."
Tom Freston said: "I think, I will fly in person, it will be more sincere."
Lei Shidong frowned, and finally nodded and agreed.
......
A restaurant in Venice Beach, just sent Carl Icahn and got on the bus with Eric, Elizabeth can't wait to say: "MTV and Showtime TV, Carl Icahn is really generous and completely caught you. The mind."
Just in the process of having lunch, Carl Icahn suggested that as long as Eric can continue to put pressure on Viacom to crack down on the company’s share price and take control of Viacom, he can The two major cable TV stations under the Comm Group are split and sold to the firefly system.
Obviously, the other party is very keen to see that Eric has been focusing on expanding the cable TV business of the entire firefly system in recent years, and the development of the entire cable TV industry is also very rapid, which will bring about such attractive conditions.
The four major movie companies already owned by the Firefly System have already sold more than 70% of their box office in Hollywood last year. The profit scale is unmatched by the other three major film companies. Therefore, Eric continues to annex Paramount’s mind and Not strong. As long as the four major film companies in the hands of the company manage to seize more box office and profits, continue to squeeze the living space of other film companies, the firefly system is destined to be the hegemon of Hollywood, which is more than the entire Hollywood will be swallowed It’s going to be much stronger.
Therefore, for the Viacom Group, the most exciting thing for Eric is the cable TV assets of MTV and Showtime.
Thinking about it, Eric looked with a smile on his face and said, "If he doesn't hand over what I want most, how can the whole firefly system help him build momentum? There are not a few fools on Wall Street, let alone Karl. · Icahn."
Elizabeth leaned over and kissed Eric’s arm and said, “So, what are you going to do? You know, if we really cooperate with Karl Icahn to attack Viacom, will it be a lawsuit in the future?”